Lesvos to Idomeni

One of the extraordinary things about doing this job is working with volunteers who are the very first people to respond during a crisis or a disaster ~ long before the international community arrives, and certainly long after they leave.

We really wanted to look at this migration crisis from the Greek perspective. Which continues to be a hugely generous one, even in the face of an ongoing and crippling economic crisis.

Working with Christos Tolis, Daphne Tolis and Marili Zarkou on this documentary was a fantastic ride as we traipsed around Lesvos and northern Greece, looking at landscapes that had changes so much over the course of a year.

In Greece, people came out in droves to help migrants and refugees risking everything for the safety of Europe. The film follows Elli, Katerina and Stelios, three volunteers who meet refugees as they arrived in Lesvos freezing, exhausted and disorientated, and later in Idomeni as refugees became stranded at the northern border.

The added bit of loveliness for me was discovering that Elli was actually born in a small town in Australia, not far from where I was born and raised in northern Victoria. Degrees of separation are always few.

Director: Daphne Tolis

Producers: Sub.Urban Images and Soundscapes, the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, together with the European Commission’s Directorate- General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations.